Federal agency says it will provide technical advice to ensure Flint residents have safe drinking water

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it will provide technical assistance to get Flint reconnected to Detroit’s water and sewer system and help ensure safe drinking water for residents.

In Chicago, the EPA’s regional administrator, Susan Hedman, also said the agency will work to improve corrosion control in Flint’s water lines and help it connect to the Karegnondi Water Authority as planned next year.

The announcement from the Environmental Protection Agency comes a day after Gov. Rick Snyder signed a bill authorizing $9.35 million to help Flint reconnect to the Detroit system. That came, in turn, in the wake of reports that water being pulled from the Flint River was making residents sick.

Flint cancelled its contract with the Detroit water system a year ago, saying water costs were too high. Local officials planned to connect with the Karegnondi system, but its facilities were not expected to be ready for Flint until sometime next year. In the meantime, Flint started pulling water from the Flint River, sparking complaints that the water was discolored and foul-smelling.

A Flint pediatrician also said the number of local children with elevated blood-lead levels had jumped, which helped prompt Genesee County officials to warn local residents not to drink city water unless it was treated with a filtration device or otherwise shown not to contain elevated lead levels.

The EPA’s Hedman said the Flint Safe Drinking Water Task Force will be in touch regularly with local and state officials to “assist with developing and implementing a plan to secure water quality, including measures to optimize corrosion control.”

The task force will include, among others, scientists and technical experts from the EPA’s Region 5 office in Chicago, the National Risk Management Research Lab in Cincinnati and the EPA’s nationwide drinking water program.

U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint Township, said the announcement by the EPA was the “result of letters and phone calls over the past week” between his office and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and other officials.

“I am pleased to see that within a week the EPA has responded positively to my request and I’m hopeful that this announcement is a step forward for the future of Flint’s water,” said Kildee.

U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., also said the EPA's response it is a good step toward helping Flint solve its water problem.

“The increased lead levels found in the Flint water system are simply unacceptable,” said Peters, who also added that he raised the issue with McCarthy. “All levels of government need to work together to prevent this type of situation from ever happening again.”

In Lansing, Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, said while he's looking forward to working with the EPA to solve any problems he also wants the agency "to help us determine what happened and provide us with a solid oversight framework going forward. It’s crucial that we take steps to ensure this never happens again.”

Contact Todd Spangler: 703-854-8947 or at tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @tsspangler.